Which websites are blocked in China – City Guide

The only guide you need for finding out what websites are blocked in China (city by city listing)

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The situation in China regarding blocked websites is getting more difficult by the year. The Chinese government is very unlikely to lift restrictions up in the near future either. This makes your life as a traveler or expat that bit harder when accessing foreign hosted content.

All Chinese cities and districts are controlled under the same ‘Chinese Firewall'. This compares to past years where websites may have worked in one province, but not in the neighboring ones. Which means what is the standard in one city is usually the same in another. That is with the odd exceptions with what websites are blocked in China..

Google.co.uk works in Zhejiang province, but when you reach Beijing even that is trouble getting hold of without having a VPN running in the background!

Tier 1 and 2 cities in China, which websites are blocked in China:

The below cities VPN status can be checked against the list of websites at the bottom of this page. If you plan on using any of these websites whilst in China then YOU WILL NEED A VPN SERVICE! Your phone will also need this as your applications will not work without a VPN running in the background – even Wikipedia or your news apps (Guardian / Sky News) will have a problem. Check through this online link checker for what websites are blocked in China now. An alternative link for checking what websites are blocked in china is here.

Hong Kong is not included in the list above, as it is a separate enclave and autonomous state within the P.R.C. and therefore has no internet restrictions or censorship laws governed by the mainland.

Below is a list of popular websites that we checked during August and then re-confirmed through a third party in December 2013. Even in 12 months time, if we came back to this list to see what had changed it will just be filled with more social media networks being blocked! This list gives a pretty good guide on the specifics of what websites are blocked in China.

Website Name

China Website Block Status

Website Address

Google Docs

BLOCKED

docs.google.com

Google Drive

BLOCKED

drive.google.com

Google+

BLOCKED

plus.google.com

Facebook

BLOCKED

www.facebook.com

YouTube

BLOCKED

www.youtube.com

Twitter

BLOCKED

twitter.com

Blogspot

BLOCKED

blogspot.com

WordPress

BLOCKED

wordpress.com

Internet Movie Database

BLOCKED

www.imdb.com

Vimeo

BLOCKED

www.vimeo.com

Archive.org

BLOCKED

www.archive.org

Scribd

BLOCKED

scribd.com

Technorati

BLOCKED

www.technorati.com

Wikileaks

BLOCKED

wikileaks.org

OpenVPN

BLOCKED

www.openvpn.net

Strong VPN

BLOCKED

www.strongvpn.com

Amnesty International

BLOCKED

amnesty.org

UrbanSurvival Blog

BLOCKED

www.urbansurvival.com

Reporters Without Borders

BLOCKED

www.rsf.org

Falun Dafa

BLOCKED

www.falundafa.org

Dropbox

BLOCKED

www.dropbox.com

Hide My Ass (VPN / Proxy)

BLOCKED

www.hidemyass.com

Proxy.SH (VPN / Proxy)

BLOCKED

www.proxy.sh

Vypr VPN (VPN)

AVAILABLE

www.goldenfrog.com

Now notice the ones highlighted in bold on that list. Some of the major VPN websites are also blocked within China. This means that when you get to China it is near to impossible to buy a decent VPN service from a main provider, as you can't access the websites!

The worst is Hidemyass.com as their VPNs (and HTTP proxies) don't work at all within Mainland China and their website AND login page is 100% blocked. That includes their premium paid for service!

Proxy.sh is also a lousy service to use within China as their HTTP proxy web addresses are blocked and don't work as soon as you are connected to one of their VPN protocols.

The good news is that Golden Frog's Vypr VPN is not blocked, which makes accessing your account fine in China (that is if you have one before entering the country!). So that means if you come across a problem with your account, you can login and check out if something is up or contact support!

Be aware also that whilst inside the country, if you want to find out which websites are blocked in China the link checker websites such as http://www.blockedinchina.net/ are also… yes you guessed it, blocked as well!

Recommended Global VPN service that 100% works in Mainland China (P.R.C.)

If you want to buy a decent VPN service, which is guaranteed to work (tested in September 2013) then buy a VyprVPN account, as it works on your iPhone or Android phone, works on Mac & PC and allows up to 3 active connections at a time (if you have a laptop / phone & tablet using the net at the same time).

I would recommend most people getting the 2 connection VyprVPN Pro account, as it offers all VPN protocols for access (basic only has PPTP) and represents good value for money. Not only that, if you buy at the moment, they offer a 3 day free trial (no strings attached). So you can't really go wrong with trying it out at least! Sign up for their free trial here.

This page was last updated on 24/01/2014, we will maintain this page to ensure that the information on it is kept up to date.